Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Noodle Soup and Buns of Goodness at Carson's Mami King

The sun came out this afternoon but at lunchtime the sky was overcast, which got Joel and I in the mood for some noodles and soup. It was a Mami King day.

Mami (pronounced sort of like "mommy") could be considered the Philippine version of America's chicken noodle soup. Start with thin noodles in a hot and light broth, then add scallions, some shredded napa cabbage and select the kind of meat you want in it. There are three Mami King locations in Southern California that we know of, Carson (where we ate), West Covina and Buena Park. Mami is one of their specialties, and siopao is the other. Called bao or baozi in China, where they originated, manapua where I grew up in Hawaii and siopao in the Philippines, they are steamed buns filled with various meat or vegetable fillings. They're a small meal in a bun, and since the filling is completely enclosed in the bread-like dough they're not messy. Uh-huh, pretty close to the perfect finger food to go, right? Hell yeah.

Joel had a bowl of special mami, which basically has everything in the kitchen thrown in it, along with a pork siopao. He cut it open so we could get a pic of the meaty deliciousness. I went with a bowl of siomai mami, which has two Chinese dumplings buried under the noodles so you can't see them in the picture, along with a chicken siopao. Good grubbage, for sure.

Carson's Mami King is in a tiny strip mall at the corner of Main St. and 223rd. The place isn't much to look at from the outside, but the food is very satisfying while not being very heavy and won't break the bank. My bowl of mami, siopao and a coke cost about $9.